Workshop Descriptions & Instructors

Faith Adiele
Mary Allen
Kate Aspengren
Thomas Fox Averill
Nancy Barry
Timothy Bascom
Linda Bendorf
Venise Berry
Bruce Bond
Michael Dennis Browne
Susan Taylor Chehak
John Dalton
Thomas K. Dean
Amber Dermont
Kelly Dwyer
Hope Edelman
Josh Emmons
Katie Ford
Patricia Foster
Laura Fraser
Cecile Goding
Douglas Goetsch
Kevin González
John Griesemer
Sands Hall
Christine Hemp
Jim Heynen
Rick Hillis
Charles Holdefer
Richard Jackson
Cheryl Fusco Johnson
Wayne Johnson
Bret Anthony Johnston
Daniel Khalastchi
Zachary Lazar
Carolyn Lieberg
BK Loren
Fritz Mc Donald
James McKean
Gordon Mennenga
Katherine Min
Sharelle Byars Moranville
Michael Morse
Barbara Robinette Moss
Marc Nieson
Shannon Olson
Lon Otto
Juliet Patterson
Anjali Sachdeva
Sarah Saffian
Sam Samuels
Leslie Schwartz
Sandra Scofield
Mary Kay Shanley
Carol Spindel
Karen Subach
Mary Vermillion
Ashley Warlick
Jan Weissmiller
Bart Yates

Zachary Lazar

Basic Knowledge: Novel Writing
One-Week Workshop
June 8–13

Short Story Workshop
Weekend Workshop
June 14–15

Biography

Basic Knowledge: Novel Writing
One-Week Workshop
June 8–13

Before the long slog of pages and chapters, a novel begins as an exciting, enticing shape in the writer’s imagination. This course will focus on what to do with that airy concept we start with in our minds. Our focus will be on ways to hook an audience in the early part of a novel by using language and storytelling techniques in a captivating way. We will look at a few openings from published novels for tips on characterization, momentum, setting, pace, and point of view. Then we’ll look for ways to apply those lessons to your original manuscript. You’ll need to bring the first five pages of a novel-in-progress, which we’ll discuss as a class. Working on the assumption that a good beginning is the foundation for everything that follows, the course will leave you with a greater understanding of how to start a novel, which is the most important step towards finishing one.

Short Story Workshop
Weekend Workshop
June 14–15

This workshop is for writers of all levels who are looking for feedback on a short story they have already completed. Students will read their work aloud, and then we will discuss the story, focusing on characterization, language, point of view, and theme. Does the story give us the clues we need to interpret it? To enjoy it? What are the story’s goals and how does it achieve them? Please plan to send me one story of no more than twelve double-spaced pages prior to the session.

Biography
Zachary Lazar (M.F.A., The University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop) is the author of the novel Aaron, Approximately (Harper Collins). His second novel, Sway (Little, Brown), has been selected for the Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers series for the winter of 2008. He teaches creative writing at Hofstra University.

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Sponsored by the Division of Continuing Education
Iowa Summer Writing Festival
C215 Seashore Hall
The University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA 52242

Phone 319-335-4160
FAX 319-335-4743
iswfestival@uiowa.edu

Last updated on January 10, 2008